Band-cutter and feeder for threshing-machines.



No. 725,617. I PATENTED APR, 14, 1903.

H. W. EISENHART.-

BAND CUTTER AND FEEDER FOR THBESHING MACHINES.

. APPLICATION FILE-D JAN. 1a, 1903.

- 4 SHEETS SHEBT 1.

H0 MODEL.

' No. 725,617. I PATENTED APR 14. 1903..

H. W. EISENHART.

BAND CUTTER AND FEEDER FOR THRESHING MACHINES.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 13, 1903.

N0 MODEL; 4 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

PATENI'ED APR, 14, 1903.

H. W. EISENHART. BAND CUTTER AND FEEDER FOR THRESHING MACHINES.

APELIOATION FILED JAN. 13, 1903.

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no MODEL.

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No. 725,617. PATENTBD APR.14,1903. H. W EISBNHART. BAND CUTTER ANDFEEDER FOR THRESHING MACHINES.

APPLIOATION FILED JAN. 13, 1903.

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of the parts shown in Fig. 5.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE,

HENRY W. EISENHART, OF YORK, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR TO A. B. FARQUHAR00., LTD., OF YORK, PENNSYLVANIA.

BAND-CUTTER AND FEEDER FOR THRESHING-MACHINES.

SPECIFIOATIONforming part of Letters Patent No. 725,617, dated April 14,1903. Application filed January 13, 1903. Serial No. 138 ,853. (Nomodel.)

To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY W. EISENHART, a citizen of the United States,residing in the city of York, Pennsylvania, have invented certainnew anduseful Improvements in Band-Cutters and Feeders for Threshing- Machines,of which the following is a specification-..

This invention relates to the band-cutting and feeding devices ofthreshing-machines; and it consists of certain im provements which willfirst be described in connection with the accompanying drawings and willthen be pointed out more particularly in the claims.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a side elevation of so much of athreshing-machine as needed to illustrate the improvements. Fig. 2 is anenlarged end elevation of the same with the endless-chain carrierremoved. Fig. 3 is a longitudinal vertical central section through theband-cutter and feeder. Fig. .4 is a view of that face of the band wheelor pulley on which the governor is mounted. Fig. 4 is an enlarged viewof one of the friction-clutch shoe-levers, showing the preferredconstruction of the shoe t, consisting of a block of wood held indovetailed ways formed in the shoe end of the shoe-lever. Fig. 5 is aview similar to Fig. 4, but enlarged, and also showing one-half of theclutch-disk with which the shoe-levers on the bandwvheel cooperate. Fig.6 is a transverse vertical axial section Fig. 7 is an enlarged sideelevation of one of the bearings for the band-cutter shaft. Fig. 8 isa-vertical cross-section of the same axiallythrough the bearing.

ing by its rotation to give to the feed-bottom its oscillatory movement.

.D represents back-and-forth and up-anddown oscillatory rakes, which attheir outer ends are mounted upon the cranks of their actuatingcrank-shaft Q, supported in suitable bearings in the frame of themachine, and at their inner ends are hung from and supported by across-shaft M through the medium of links m, which at their lower endsare joined to the rakes and at their upper ends are sleeved loosely uponthe shaft M. These rakes tear up and scatter the sheaves or bundles anddeliver the same regularly to the cylinder. The bottom C aids in thedistribution and feed. It is desirable that the rakes at their innerends or ends next to the cylinder should be adjustable up and down, soas to vary the feed-passage according to the nature of the grain and theparticular circumstances of the case. shaft M is adjustable up and down,for which purpose its ends project on each side of the feeder invertical slots m in the latter, each slot being bordered externally by astationary rack m extending along one edge of the slot and adapted to beengaged by a pinion m fast on the shaft M. By rotating the shaft bymeans of a winch or handle M on one of its ends it can be raised orlowered, as de sired. It is held in adjusted position by any suitablemeans, in this instance by an eyebolt m}, one on each side of themachine, the eye of the bolt encircling the end of the shaft and thescrew-threaded bolt-shank passing through a verticallyslotted flange mand having on its end a thumb-nut m, by means of which the shaft can bedrawn in a direction to jam the pinion m tightly into the rack m Abovethe rakes is arranged a fender or cover N, preferably of sheet-iron, toprevent the straw from being carried up over the rakes. It extendslengthwise of the feedchamber and is attached at its outer end to thetop of the feed-box and at its inner end is connected to the shaft M byhanging-links 'n, swiveled to the shaft and the fender, respectively,thus permitting the fender at its inner end to move up and down with theshaft. At the outer end of the feed-chamber To this end the g is astationary vertical hood or curtain N, which is also intended to preventany straw from passing in above the rakes, this curtain being slotted topermit the passage of the rakes.

The several moving parts of the feeder are driven from the band-cuttershaft R, which in turn is driven, as customary, by belting from thethresher-cylinder. In order that the knives B may be set nearer to orfarther from the sheaves or bundles which they are to act on, the shaftR is made adjustable up and down, for which purpose itis mountedinbearings 1', which are held in stationary vertical guideways r, in whichthey can move up and down. The guideways r, as seen more clearly inFigs. 7 and 8, which show one of the guideways with the bearing 7'therein, are attached to the front or outer face of the feed-box, and ineach guideway the bearing is held in adjusted position therein by meansof a bolt r on the bearing, which passes through a slot 1 in the back oftheguideway and has on its projecting end a tightening-nut 1.

It is quite necessary to provide some means of preventing straw fromWrapping and winding around the cutter-shaft and the hubs of the knivesfastened thereon, a thing which is likely to happen at all times, butparticularly when the grain is wet and heavy. To this end I employ theguards G, interposed between the knives and forming an effective barrierto the backward passage of the straw. The guards are preferably made ofthin sheetsteel of a width to fill the spaces between the knives. Theyare bent at their lower ends to form sleeves g, looselyencircling thehubs of the knives, and extend straight up from the side of thecutter-shaft next to the feedrakes to the top of the feed-chamber above,where they are secured by bolts and nuts g. In order that these guardsmay be adjusted up and down with the shaft R, the bolts g pass throughlongitudinal slots g in the guards. Whenever it is desired to adjust theshaft R, the nuts of the retaining-bolts g of the guards are loosened,and then when the shaft is moved up and down the guards will move withit. In order to prevent straw from wrapping on the end hubs on thecutter-shaft, I form on the inner ends of the bearings rof theband-cutter shaft annular guards G, in which the end hubs on thecutter-shaft are completely housed and protected. Each hearing 7' islined with a removable and replaceable bushing r", of brass or Babbittmetal, to take the wear.

It has before been proposed in this class of machines to connect thedriving-shaft of the feeder with the shaft of the threshing-cylinderthrough the medium of motion-transmitting mechanism controlled by africtionclutch governor in such manner that the feeder shall not beginto move until the threshing-cylinder has reached a predetermined speedof rotation. I have devised for this purpose a compact and efficientmechanism, which will now be described.

I is a band wheel or pulley fast on the bandcutter shaft R, driven bybelting from the thresher-cylinder, as usual. .Adjoining the band-wheeland loose upon the band-cutter shaft is the one member of thefriction-clutch, consisting in this instance of a clutch-disk J, with anannular flange or rim projecting laterally from the side of the disknext to the band-wheel I. Mounted on the contiguous face of the Web orspokes of the band-wheel I is the other member of the friction-clutchand the governor for controlling the same. The member of thefriction-clutch which is carried by the band-wheel consists of the twoshoes 2' on the ends of the levers 2", pivoted at t to the band-wheeland having their opposite ends engaged each by the end of agovernor-lever i pivoted at i to the band-wheel and having on its otherand longer arm a Weight 2 The end of the governor-lever which engagesthe shoe-lever t" is mounted and tits in a correspondingly-shaped notchin the end of the shoe-lever. When the bandwheel I revolves, thetendency of the governor-levers is to swing outwardly in a direction toforce the shoes 2' into engagement with the rim of the clutch-disk J.With the bandwheel and the governor-levers and shoe-levers thus mountedthereon I combine adj ustably spring-controlled pressers, one for eachshoe-lever, designed to hold the shoe-levers with their shoes out ofengagement with the band-wheel so long as the threshing-cylinder is atrest or, if in motion, has not the predetermined speed of rotation. Thechar- .acteristic of these adjustably springcontrolled pressers (whichare separate and distinct devices from both the shoe-levers and thegovernor-levers) is that they bear directly upon and are movable in aright line to and from their respective shoe-levers. In this way I amenabled to secure very efficient action, while the mechanical devicesthemselves may be simple and free from complication. The preferredembodimentof this feature of my improvement is illustrated in thedrawings and may be described as follows: Upon the ends of theshoe-levers 11 which are engaged by the governorlevers bearspringpressed'stemsj, which tend to move from the shoe-levers in adirection to hold their shoes 71 out of engagement with the rim of theclutchdisk. Each stem is mounted in bearings] j, in which it can movelengthwise. Itis pressed by a spring i in a direction to cause it tobear upon its shoe-lever, and the spring-pressure can be regulated by anut 9' on a screw-threaded portion of the stem. The springs serve totake up the lost motion and-are so adjusted as to cause the stemsj tohold the shoes 11 out of engagement with the clutch-disk J until theband-wheel I has attained a predetermined speed of rotation. Upon thehub of the clutch-disk J is a sprocket-wheel'J, from which motion iscommunicated to the other parts'of the feeder through an endlesssprocket-chain engaging the sprocketwheel A on the front axle or shaftof the carrier A, the sprocket-wheel Q on the rakeshaft Q, and theintermediary sprocket-Wheels S T, the latter being provided with aspurwheel t, which engages a like wheel 13 on the actuating-shaft P ofthe oscillatory bottom 0. The direction of revolution of the parts justreferred to is indicated by arrows.

The feeder and band-cutter thus constructed is thoroughly effective andat the same time is very compact and occupies but little space. Thefeeding devices distribute and deliver the grain with great regularity,far more rogu It will larly, indeed, than any hand-feeder. be noted thateach rake is mounted independently of its fellows and that theiractuatingcranks are set at angles to one another, so that the rakes riseand'fall successively and not in unison, and the stationary guardsencircling the band-cutter shaft and extending up to a support at thetop of the feeder are an absolute barrier to the wrapping of the grainaround the shaft.

Having described myimprovements and the best way now known to me ofcarrying the same into practical effect, what I claim herein as new, anddesire to secure by Letters Patent, is as follows:

1. Ina feeder for threshing-machines the combination with thefeed-chamber and bottom therein over which the grain passes, ofup-and-down and to-and-fro oscillatory rakes, and a fender located abovethe rakes and extending lengthwise of the feed-chamber, substantially asand for the purposes hereinbefore set forth.

2. The combination with the feed-chamber and bottom therein over whichthe grain passes, of up-and-down and to-and-fro oscillatory rakeslocated above the bottom, and means for simultaneously adj usting theinner ends of all the rakes to different distances from the said bottom,substantially as and for the purposes hereinbefore set forth.

3. The combination with the feed-chamber, the feed-rakes and thecrank-shaft on which their outer ends are mounted, of a cross shaft orbar, vertically adjustable in the feed-chamber, means for adjusting saidshaft and for holding it in adjusted position, and links swiveledat oneend to the cross-bar, and at the other end to the inner ends of therakes, substantially as hereinbefore set forth.

4. The combination with the feed-chamber, the np-and-down andto-and-frooscillatoryrakes, and a support for the inner ends of saidrakes vertically adjustable in-the chamber, of a fender above the rakes,having its inner end connected to, and adj ustable-with,

the said rake-support, s'ubstantiallyas hereinbefore set forth.

5. The combination'with the band-cutter shaft and the knives thereon, ofstationary guard-plates interposed between the knives, sleeved upon theband-cutter shaft and thence extending up, and secured at their upperends to a support in the frame of the machine, substantiallyashereinbefore set forth;

6. The combinationwith the band-cutter shaft, and bearings thereforvertically adjustable in their supporting-frame, of stationaryguard-plates interposed between the knives on said shaft, sleeved'uponfthe bandcutter shaft and thence extending up to a support above,and means for adjustably securing the guards to said support, so as topermit the guards to bevertically adjusted along with the band-cuttershaft, substantially as hereinbefore set forth.

7. The combination with the band wheel or pulley, the clutch-disks andthe shaft upon which the same are mounted, of--the shoe-levers pivotedto the band-wheel and provided with shoes to engage the clutch-disk,weighted governor-levers pivoted to the band-wheel and engaging theshoe-levers,- and adj ustably spring-controlled pressers one for eachshoelever, mounted upon the band wheel and movable in a right line toand from, anddirectly bearing upon, their respective shoe-levers,substantially as and for the purposes hereinbefore set forth.

8. In combination with the band-cutter shaft and the band wheel orpulley thereon, a clutch-disk mounted-loosely on said shaft and providedwith a peripheral flange or rim laterally projecting towardtheband-wheel, shoe-levers pivoted to the band-wheel, and provided withshoes which 'are adapted to bear against the inner face of the rim onthe clutch-disk,weighted governor-levers pivoted to the band-wheel-andengaging the shoe-levers, stems or rods j bearing on the ends of theshoe-levers engaged by the governor-le'-' vers, bearings j onthe'band-wheel in which said rods j are mounted and lengthwise mov- Yable, springs 7' for acting on saidrods or stems, and nuts j foradjusting the pressureguards in which the end hubs on the cutter- HENRYw. EISENHART.

Witnesses:

GUY C. STOVER, B. H. FARQUHAR.

